This one feels like the point where The Wheel of Time stops being just a big fantasy adventure and starts showing you how much history Jordan has actually been sitting on the whole time.
The Aiel were already interesting before this, but here they become a hell of a lot more than “the dangerous people from the Waste.” Learning where they came from, what they used to be, and how much of their identity is built around a history most of them don’t even know completely changes the way you look at them.
I liked that Jordan doesn’t just dump a bunch of history on you for the sake of worldbuilding. What Rand learns actually matters because he’s going to have to lead these people, and knowing the truth doesn’t exactly make his job easier. Every time Rand gets another answer, it seems like he also gets three more problems.
That’s kind of becoming his life at this point.
He can’t afford to stay ignorant anymore, but the more he understands about what he is and what people expect from him, the less chance he has of going back to anything resembling a normal life.
Perrin’s story was probably one of the strongest parts for me too. Sending him back to the Two Rivers was a really good choice because you get to see just how much he’s changed since he left. He goes back thinking of it as home, but he isn’t really the same Perrin anymore.
And I like the way leadership gets forced onto him.
Perrin doesn’t seem like somebody who desperately wants people following him around or calling him a leader. If anything, he’d probably prefer everyone stop doing that. But when people need him, he keeps stepping up anyway. That makes his leadership feel earned instead of like somebody just handed him a title.
Mat also keeps getting better.
He still acts like he wants absolutely nothing to do with anybody’s destiny, prophecy, or grand plans, while somehow continuing to walk directly into some of the strangest shit in the series. His trip into Rhuidean gives him things he barely understands, and once again Mat manages to leave a situation with even more weirdness attached to him than when he went in.
That’s part of why I like him so much. Rand is increasingly accepting that he has this enormous role to play. Perrin is reluctantly becoming somebody people depend on. Mat spends half his time insisting he wants no part of any of it while fate basically laughs at him.
The Aiel history is probably what makes this book stand out most, though. Jordan starts showing that cultures in this world aren’t just costumes, accents, and different weapons. They have histories they’re proud of, histories they’re ashamed of, and sometimes stories they’ve been telling themselves for so long that the truth becomes dangerous.
There’s a lot going on in this book, and it’s definitely long, but the length bothered me less here because most of the different storylines actually feel important. Rand, Perrin, and Mat are all becoming very different people, and this is probably one of the books where you can really see how far the three boys from the Two Rivers have already drifted from where they started.
Who I’d recommend it to: Anyone already invested in the series who wants the worldbuilding to get much deeper. This is where the Aiel, Rand’s role, and Perrin’s story all become a lot more interesting.
Caution: It’s a big book with a lot of history and separate storylines, but most of that setup actually pays off.
Discussion question: Which storyline did you enjoy more in The Shadow Rising—Rand with the Aiel, Perrin in the Two Rivers, or Mat continuing to accidentally collect weird shit he definitely didn’t ask for?
— Cory Lane